


Love you, Bro

by celt_the_flame_3110



Series: The Marching Band AU 'verse [2]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Marching Band, Caring Eddie Kaspbrak, Eddie Kaspbrak Has a Crush, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, High School, Light Angst, M/M, Marching Band, Mutual Pining, Rated T for Trashmouth, Richie Tozier Has a Crush, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Swearing, Teen Angst, Teen Crush, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22222483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celt_the_flame_3110/pseuds/celt_the_flame_3110
Summary: Once Bill finished smearing his actual slide grease on his tuning slide he pressed a kiss to Stan’s cheek. Stan smiled fondly and wrapped an arm around Bill’s shoulders.Ben and Beverley intertwined their fingers together and he kissed her on the forehead.This is when Richie should’ve made a fake gagging sound and joked for them to “get a room”, but he didn’t. He had been awfully quiet since the water break started. Usually he would talk so much during breaks that he would be the last to finish his water. Today he was the first to finish drinking. Something was wrong.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Bill Denbrough/Stanley Uris, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Richie Tozier & Stanley Uris
Series: The Marching Band AU 'verse [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1590559
Comments: 4
Kudos: 122





	Love you, Bro

**Author's Note:**

> Yeeeeee part 2!
> 
> I've been sitting on this for a while. I decided to post it before I become dissatisfied with it and edit it again (being a perfectionist sucks lol). The title sucks but I suck at coming up with titles. So I just went with the first semi-decent one that I thought of.
> 
> I don't think there's anything I have to warn you about. So...enjoy!

“Bill, what are you doing?” Stan asked.

“P-putting slide grease on m-my t-t-tuning slide.” Bill replied.

Bill was smearing the substance from the lip balm-style tube onto the tuning slide of his trumpet. Stan grabbed Bill’s wrist to still his movements and plucked the tube from his fingers.

“Darling, this is chapstick.” Stan said, raising the tube to Bill’s eyes.

Bill took the tube back and looked at it closer to see that it was, in fact, cherry-flavored chapstick rather than slide grease.

Bill let out a defeated sigh as the rest of his friends laughed at his mistake.

“You’re an idiot.” Stan stated with narrowed eyes.

“They c-come in the same p-p-packaging St-Stan.”

“Your lip balm is in a pink and black tube. Your slide grease is in a white tube with blue lettering. They are not even  _ remotely _ the same color. Why do you keep your chapstick in your trumpet case, anyway?”

“I d-d- _ don’t. _ My slide grease w-was in my p-pocket. I m-m-must’ve grabbed the wrong t-tube.” 

“That’s why your slide grease goes in your case, dear.”

Once Bill finished smearing his  _ actual _ slide grease on his tuning slide he pressed a kiss to Stan’s cheek. Stan smiled fondly and wrapped an arm around Bill’s shoulders.

Ben and Beverley intertwined their fingers together and he kissed her on the forehead.

This is when Richie should’ve made a fake gagging sound and joked for them to “get a room”, but he didn’t. He had been awfully quiet since the water break started. Usually he would talk so much during breaks that he would be the last to finish his water. Today he was the first to finish drinking. Something was wrong.

“You okay, Rich?” Eddie quietly asked.

“You’ve been abnormally quiet since the break started.” Mike said.

Everyone looked at Richie with concerned expressions.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.” Richie responded with an unconvincing smile, staring into the distance.

“Are you sure?” Beverly asked. “Because it’s okay if you aren’t.”

Richie nodded before murmuring, “I’ll be right back.” and walking inside the school building.

Eddie stared dejectedly at the door Richie just entered through and Stan broke the silence with, “I think you should go talk to him.”

“What? Why me?” Eddie asked, wringing his hands.

He hadn’t realized until now that all of his friends were staring at him.

“I think he needs a friend,” Stan said. “I would go myself but I’m awful at emotional support. You’re good at comforting people, so I nominate you.”

The other five nodded in agreement, seeing the sound logic in the statement and not wanting to argue with Stan’s judgement. 

There seemed to be another reason Stan randomly insisted that Eddie, out of all of Richie’s friends, go talk to Richie. Eddie had no idea what that reason was and now wasn’t the time to be thinking about it anyway.

Eddie sighed, nodded, and hopped to his feet.

Eddie walked inside the school and began to search the hallways. It didn’t take him too long to find Richie.

Richie was sitting on the landing in one of the stairwells. His knees were pressed against his chest and his eyes were squeezed shut.

“Rich?” Eddie asked gently.

Richie’s eyes snapped open and he flinched, almost knocking the back of his head on the wall behind him.

“It’s okay,” Eddie soothed, raising his hands in a surrendering gesture. “It’s just me.”

“You should go, Eddie,” Richie mumbled. “I don’t want you to be late and almost get in trouble like last time.”

If the silence and lack of jokes wasn’t enough proof that Richie was upset, the fact that he wasn’t using any of his thousand nicknames for Eddie  _ was. _

“The break just started, we have plenty of time.” Eddie assured him.

Richie rested his chin on his kneecaps and Eddie shifted uncomfortably on his feet.

“So, do you want to be alone or…?”

Richie shrugged and muttered, “Do what you want.”

Since Eddie recognized this as Tozier-speak for “Please don’t leave,” he sat down across from his friend.

Eddie sat cross legged across from Richie. Due to the small space and Richie’s legs being so long, both of their legs touched the other’s in certain places. Every point of contact set Eddie’s skin aflame but he tried to ignore it.

After sitting in silence for a moment, Eddie broke it.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked cautiously.

“Talk about  _ what?” _ Richie muttered.

“Whatever it is you’re upset about.”

“I’m not upset.” Richie grumbled.

“Yes you are. I can tell something’s bothering you today. Heck, I can tell something’s  _ been _ bothering you for the past couple of weeks. Especially at practice.”

“I’m  _ fine.” _ Richie seethed. 

Seeing that he wasn’t getting anywhere being gentle, Eddie decided to switch tactics.

_ “Bullshit!”  _ Eddie yelled.

His voice echoed through the stairwell and the sudden loud noise made Richie jump.

“If you don’t want to talk about your problem, that’s fine,” Eddie snapped. “Just say you don’t want to talk about it. I’ll leave you alone and so will the others. But don’t blatantly lie to my face and say you’re ‘okay’ when you’re  _ obviously _ not.”

Eddie’s voice softened in tone and volume as he finished with, “I’m sorry for raising my voice, especially when you’re so upset about something. I’m just trying to help you and it really fucking sucks that instead of politely telling me to fuck off, you decide to snap at me instead. If you want me to leave you alone or if you don’t want to talk about it, I will go back outside  _ immediately. _ I just want you to know that, if you need to talk to somebody or if you need a friend, I’m here for you. The rest of our friends are too. Do you want me to go get one of them instead?”

Richie stared at Eddie, still stunned, for a minute. Eddie sat there patiently waiting for Richie’s answer.

Eddie was about to speak again when Richie mumbled, “M’ sorry,” then started  _ crying. _

This was the first time, in all the years they’ve been friends, that Eddie had  _ ever _ seen Richie cry. Even when Richie had gotten hurt or emotional, he  _ never _ cried. Eddie was sure Richie cried when he was alone but this was the first time Richie has ever cried in front of  _ him, _ possibly in front of anyone else period.

When Eddie realized that his yelling probably helped set Richie’s tears into motion, he felt his own heart shatter into a million pieces.

Almost immediately after Richie started crying, Eddie cupped Richie’s face in his hands and started brushing the tears away with his thumbs. The gesture only seemed to make Richie cry harder, so Eddie tried to pull away but Richie grabbed Eddie’s wrist to stop him. Eddie took this as permission to keep going, so he continued his ministrations. 

After a few minutes of silence, Richie finally calmed down. He took a deep breath as the last of the tears fell.

“I’m sorry for being such a bitch,” Richie apologized with a laugh. “Didn’t mean to be so bitter.”

“It’s okay,” Eddie said. “I’m sorry for yelling at you. It probably wasn’t the best course of action.” 

“It’s cool,” Richie shrugged. “You probably just didn’t know what to do. Hell, being nice wasn’t working. So you had to try something else.”

“That’s not a good enough excuse,” Eddie murmured. “I just made you  _ cry. _ You  _ never _ cry.”

“Eddie, I just told you it was okay,” Richie assured him, brushing his thumb gently over his wrist. “I forgave you, so you should forgive yourself too.”

When Eddie realized he was still holding onto Richie’s face, he hastily let go. Richie opened his mouth to say something but Eddie pulled a tissue out of his fanny pack and handed it to Richie.

“Blow your nose, fuckface.” Eddie commanded without any bite.

Richie laughed, taking the tissue and doing as he was told.

“You know, blowing noses and wiping tears isn’t what these are used for in the Tozier household.” Richie quipped with a raised brow.

Eddie stared at him blankly until he realized what he meant. When he realized what Richie was implying, heat rushed to Eddie’s cheeks at the image of Richie-

“Richie…” Eddie groaned, wrinkling his nose in fake disgust.

Richie cackled, thankfully seeming to buy the “grossed out” excuse.

After a long pause Richie asked, “Do you want to know why I was upset?”

“Only if you want to tell me.” Eddie answered.

“It’s Mr. Frost.” 

“What about him?”

“Have you noticed the way he’s been treating me lately?”

“That he’s been making you drop for push ups frequently, yelling at you more often, and being generally cold towards you? Yeah, I’ve noticed. The other losers noticed too.”

“Really?” Richie asked, seeming taken aback by Eddie’s response. “Huh… I thought it was just me. Wait, when were you guys going to tell me you all knew?”

“We were going to discuss it further when we were out of earshot of Mr. Frost. We were also going to try and figure out how to stop him. Discussing how to overthrow the tyrannical band director who’s been giving your friend a hard time is something you typically don’t do in front of said band director.”

“When did you guys first talk about this? Why was I out of the loop?”

“We first talked about it in science class earlier today. You weren’t there because you fucking skipped.”

Physical science and concert band were the only classes all seven losers had together. Every other class in their schedules had at least one of them absent. They couldn’t discuss this in band class for obvious reasons. They didn’t discuss it during lunch because Stan and Bill had a student council meeting to attend. 

“Well, at least I’m not imagining it.” Richie said, slightly relieved.

“So… what are you going to do about it?” Eddie asked.

After a moment of thought Richie shrugged. “I don’t know. Endure it and hope it stops, I guess.”

“Seriously? You’re not going to do anything?”

“What am I supposed to do? Clap back at an adult who already hates me? I’m already on thin ice, I might as well ride this out until the season ends.”

“It’s September. We still have two months before state marching band finals. Even  _ if _ you ‘ride this out’ until it’s over, what about next year? And don’t say you’ll quit marching band, we aren’t going to let you.”

“I’m sure you guys would be better off without me, anyway. He’s always yelling at me for fucking up. It doesn’t seem like I can do anything right anyway. I might as well just not be in marching band after this year.”

“No, Richie. No way.”

“Eddie-”

“Stop calling me that!”

“Um… that’s your  _ name.” _

“Yeah, but…” 

Eddie almost said,  _ I like it when you call me Eds, _ but he realized that Richie would  _ never _ let him live it down if he admitted it.

“Since when do you  _ ever _ call me that?” Eddie asked. “You always call me anything  _ but _ Eddie. It’s so… unlike you.”

“I guess you have a point…” Richie shrugged.

“Anyway,” Eddie continued. “His yelling isn’t justified. We just discussed this. He’s yelling at you because he’s an asshole, not because you’re  _ actually _ doing anything wrong. He yells at the rest of us so we’ll improve and fix our mistakes, but the way he yells at  _ you _ is so you’ll feel bad about yourself. There’s  _ no way _ it’s for improvement. ‘Keep your drum sticks parallel to the ground, Tozier!’ The fuck does  _ that _ even mean?! Your sticks  _ can’t _ be parallel to the ground because you play the  _ fucking bass drum! _ Your sticks are perpendicular to the ground, it’s literally impossible to keep them  _ fucking parallel!” _

“Woah, Eds. Calm down,” Richie soothed. “There’s no reason to blow a gasket. I didn’t realize you were so mad about this.”

_ “Of course I’m mad!” _ Eddie raged. “You are an  _ amazing _ musician and you’re really good at marching. I mean, you still have a lot to learn just like the rest of us but you’re not bad for a Freshman. The fact that this asshole isn’t trying to help you be the best you can be and is trying to wreck your confidence pisses me off. Instead of being happy and confident like you usually are, you’re depressed, timid, and you want to  _ quit! _ I mean, if  _ you _ quit, who’s going to teach me how to march next year?”

Richie blinked. “What?”

“Oh…” Eddie murmured. “I forgot to tell you. Well since I hate being in the pit so much, I basically told my mom to fuck off and let me march.”

Richie straightened his posture and smiled. “Wait... _ really?” _

“Yeah. I’m most likely going to be in the battery next year.”

“Fuck...Well, I guess I  _ can’t _ quit now.”

“You’re damn right you can’t!”

“So...what do we do, then?”

Eddie thought for a moment. 

He absolutely  _ despised _ Mr. Frost for his unfair treatment of Richie. Sure the jokes Richie made were vulgar and out of line, but Mr. Frost punished him. Hell, the next day in class Richie  _ apologized _ to the band director. He  _ never _ apologized to any teacher for making jokes unless he was forced. 

When you’re an adult, you have to be the mature one in the situation. Richie was fourteen years old and still growing as a person, so it made sense for Richie to be slightly immature. Mr. Frost is a  _ grown ass adult _ and the fact that he was acting more petty than a  _ literal child _ was disgusting.

Even though Eddie and the other losers wanted to do something about it, they also didn’t want to fall on the sword. They all loved Richie, Eddie a little more so than the others, but none of them wanted to antagonize Mr. Frost. Every one of them wanted to be in band throughout all four years of high school, so the last thing they wanted to do was get on his bad side.

Suddenly, it clicked. Eddie had an idea that wouldn’t run the risk of him getting in trouble with their band director but would also get Mr. Frost off of Richie’s back. Eddie almost felt  _ evil _ using this to his advantage.

“What?” Richie asked, seeing Eddie smile widely. Richie almost looked scared.

“I have an idea.” Eddie said excitedly.

“What’s your idea?” Richie asked, not looking any less frightened.

Just then, Eddie’s wristwatch went off. That was their thirty second warning, the break was almost over.

“No time to explain,” Eddie said, turning the watch off and standing. “You’ll see, though. It’s not going to be subtle.”

“Eddie,” Richie started, worried. “Please don’t do something that’ll get you in trouble. You don’t want him to treat you like he’s treating me.”

“Don't worry, I won’t get in trouble. I love you, man, but I’m  _ not _ becoming a sacrificial lamb for your sake.” Eddie assured him.

Richie’s eyes enlarged, not in fear but... in something else? 

_ Oh _

When Eddie realized what he just said to his crush, he felt his face heat up. Instead of acknowledging it, he pointed to his watch and ran down the stairs. Richie followed him and they ran back out to the practice field.

***

Richie and Eddie made it back out to the field in time to take their places in the current drill set. 

Richie couldn’t believe it, did Eddie really just use the L-word?!

_ Don’t be weird about it, _ he admonished himself.  _ It was a platonic love, not a  _ love _ love. Friends say they love each other all the time. _

Richie also had  _ no idea _ what Eddie was planning on doing. The way his pretty lips curled into a smile after thinking was almost  _ manic. _

Richie caught Eddie’s eye from across the practice field and Eddie gave him a beautiful, reassuring smile. Richie decided to trust him and let him do his thing. If he went too far Richie could always tell him to stop and Eddie  _ would. _

Richie flashed a genuine smile back at Eddie and Eddie turned back around to find his mallets for the marimba. Richie saw Stan looking a him, he must’ve seen their interaction. Stan raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him from across the field. Richie stared at him blankly and Stan winked before turning back to face the front sideline.

Richie had no idea what  _ that _ was about. 

They only practiced for five minutes before Mr. Frost started his bullshit again.

“Tozier!” Mr. Frost roared when the band stopped.

“Yes sir?” Richie asked timidly.

“Get to your spot!” he yelled, hopping down from the scaffolding he was previously perched on. 

Richie looked down at the yard line he was currently standing on and responded, “This  _ is _ my spot, sir.”

“No it isn’t! Where is your drill chart?!” Mr. Frost bellowed, walking to where Richie was standing.

“In my band locker…”

“Why don’t you have it?!”

“We finished setting drill last month, sir. You told us to keep our drill charts in our lockers but that we didn’t have to keep them on our person.”

“It doesn’t matter what you  _ thought _ I said. I actually said…”

Richie was right, that  _ was _ what Mr. Frost had said. Some of the other band members looked like the wanted to defend him but they kept quiet, not wanting to be the band director’s next target.

Suddenly, there was a wheezing sound coming from the front of the field.

Richie’s heart stopped when he realized what that meant.

Eddie was gasping for air, unzipping his fanny pack and fumbling for his inhaler. He pulled it out but his shaking hands dropped it. He fell to his knees, gasping for air and feeling around on the grass for the device. 

One of the pit members grabbed the inhaler for him, putting it into Eddie’s hands. Instead of taking a puff of it, like he normally would, he just dropped it again. She tried giving it to him another time only for the same thing to happen.

Mr. Frost, being the douchebag he was, didn’t seem to notice at first. His only focus was on yelling at Richie.

“Um...Mr. Frost?” she called shyly.

“Can this wait, Johnson?!” he shouted.

“Eddie’s having an asthma attack, sir.” she said, louder this time.

Mr. Frost immediately walked over to where they were, handing the inhaler to Eddie.

Eddie  _ finally _ held onto the device and took a puff of it, seeming relieved.

“Eddie, are you alright?” he asked, seeming barely concerned. This was the best an adult in Derry could do.

“Yes sir.” Eddie said weakly, standing to his feet.

Mr. Frost nodded, seeming to forget he was  _ just _ screaming at Richie, and returned to the scaffolding.

Practice resumed for another five minutes before Mr. Frost started to yell at Richie for something else. Then, Eddie had  _ another _ asthma attack. 

_ That _ was when it clicked for Richie.  _ This _ was Eddie’s plan.

For the remainder of practice every time Mr. Frost yelled at Richie, Eddie would just  _ happen _ to have an asthma attack. Eventually Mr. Frost seemed to notice the pattern, because he stopped yelling at Richie every time he breathed the wrong way.

***

“I  _ still _ can’t believe you did that!” Richie cackled.

“Yeah, I actually can’t either.” Eddie admitted with a grin.

They were lying on their sides on Eddie’s bed after practice, facing each other.

“I’m actually more surprised it worked, to be honest.” Eddie said.

“Let’s just be glad it did,” Richie beamed. ”I’m glad he’s finally off my dick. Now your mom can finally get back  _ on _ it.”

Eddie scrunched his face in disgust. “Ew, okay, I regret getting you your confidence back. I liked you better when you were a quiet, depressed shell of a man.”

Richie laughed so hard his eyes watered.

Eddie smiled fondly at him, he could watch Richie laugh all day.

When Richie finally calmed down, he smiled sweetly at Eddie and said, “Thanks for getting him off my back, dude. You’re the  _ best. _ ”

“No problem, Rich. I’m glad he  _ finally _ stopped giving you a hard time.” Eddie yawned. “I’m  _ exhausted. _ Wanna take a nap?”

“I thought you’d  _ never _ ask.” Richie sighed.

Eddie giggled and Richie rolled onto his other side, now facing away from Eddie.

“Sweet dreams, Eds,” Richie mumbled. “Love you.”

Eddie’s jaw dropped and he blushed. Thankfully, Richie couldn’t see it.

Before Eddie could lose his courage he responded, “Love you too, bro.”

He could’ve sworn that he heard Richie’s breath catch, but he couldn’t be sure.

**Author's Note:**

> Stan is suspicious ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 
> 
> Time to address a possible concern.
> 
> First of all, Mr. Frost isn't based off of my high school band director. My high school band director was hard on us, like all band directors are, but I really liked him. He was my favorite teacher. I'm not subliminally taking out all of my pent up anger on my band director by writing this fic.
> 
> Also I know Mr. Frost having a personal vendetta against Richie is counterproductive to the band doing well. I also know how adults actually act in real life. Adults in Derry are callous, uncaring individuals. I wouldn't be surprised if an adult in Derry would act this petty and rude towards a child if that child happened to tick them off at some point. Mr. Frost is supposed to be an asshole to help illustrate this. That's the way I wrote him. That's the point, dawg.
> 
> I think that's all I wanted to say. Enjoy the rest of your day!


End file.
